Man in dog poop killing seeks day parole
BOARD TO DECIDE
MONTREAL • A Quebec man who killed a woman during an argument over where she let her dog do its business has asked the Parole Board of Canada to release him on day parole.
Michel Langlois, 62, had a long exchange with parole board member Joseph Laine during a hearing held through a video conference Thursday before he was informed that the board will deliberate before announcing its decision.
Langlois’s parole officer recommended he be granted day parole and released to a halfway house in Laval for six months. She said his risk of reoffending was recently assessed as being low to moderate.
“He realizes now his inability to control his emotions is what caused the death,” the parole officer said.
On Sept. 8, 2011, Langlois stabbed 27-year-old Justyna Kozyra 14 times outside her Montreal apartment building. Kozyra was involved in an argument with Langlois’s boyfriend, the concierge of a neighbouring building, when Langlois joined in and stabbed her using a knife he was using to do some gardening that day.
Langlois’s boyfriend and Kozyra had argued before over how she let her dog relieve himself on the grounds outside both buildings. The concierge was responsible for maintaining both.
On Feb. 1, 2013, Langlois pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He automatically received a life sentence and he was ordered to serve at least 10 years before becoming eligible for parole.
On Thursday, Langlois told the board Kozyra’s death had more to do with his inability to control his emotions than dog poop.
“I had accumulated too much frustration,” Langlois said when asked what happened the day he killed Kozyra. “I didn’t know how to control my emotions.
“I wasn’t good in my own skin. It’s difficult to explain. I wasn’t well.”
Langlois said that before he killed Kozyra he went to a hospital to seek help for his inability to control his emotions, but was told his issue couldn’t be diagnosed at that institution. He also said he felt his boyfriend was getting the runaround when he called the authorities to report the problem with the dog.
His parole officer recommended that two conditions be imposed on his release: that he be required to take medication he is using to help control his emotions and that he not communicate with Kozyra’s relatives.